Serious Errors Reported With Touch Screen Voting Machines

Reports are pouring in from Texas voters over issues with voting machines, but election officials are blaming the voters for not knowing how to operate the touch-screen balloting machines.

Multiple early voters are saying when they touch the screen to vote Republican, the machine is checking the box for Democratic candidates.

It’s even gotten Republican nominee Donald Trump’s attention, who sent out a Twitter message Thursday morning, asking, “What is going on?” Trump has been ridiculed by the media and the left for saying the elections are rigged.

A lot of call-ins about vote flipping at the voting booths in Texas. People are not happy. BIG lines. What is going on?

Monday, Sandy Clark from Texas posted a Facebook update about a family member in Arlington who voted straight Republican, and the machine changed her vote to Clinton.

This isn’t the first time such a thing has happened. A 2014 YouTube video showed someone testing a touch-screen voting machine in Virginia that continued to select the Democratic candidate, even when the voter touched the box for the Republican candidate.

Another voter reported that when she voted at a Dallas County library and requested the straight-ticket Republican vote, the machine switched her vote to straight-ticket Democrat. She caught the error, and a poll worker told her to just use another machine. The woman told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, “My question is, how many other people didn’t know?”

Texas elections officials claimed this type of problem can occur when voters incorrectly choose the wrong party. But voters reporting the issues have been adamant that they did not choose the wrong party – the machine did.

Frank Phillips, Texas Elections Administrator in Tarrant County, told Fox 4 News that the problem is usually just due to “user errors,” and said if a machine is reported, it is taken out of service until it can be tested. “But we have never been able to replicate the issue, either at the site or in our office,” he claimed.

The machines are evidently so confusing to use that the county has posted a training video to help people learn how to use them:

The elections official has spoken to a few people with first-hand knowledge of the problem. He said the voters did not follow directions and turned the selection wheel to try to go to the next page of the ballot. Then when they clicked the enter button, it selected a new presidential candidate. Those people caught their mistake on the summary screen and were able to make changes before casting their vote. That’s exactly how the machine should work, Phillips said.

There is a training video that helps people learn how to use the machines on the Tarrant County Elections Facebook page. Voters who have problems can also ask the elections judge for help.